Method for forming twisted filamentary material

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method of forming a twisted yarn and a doubled cord in which yarn twisting is carried out by feeding a yarn by means of a feed device into a rotating hollow member, temporarily storing the yarn and subsequently reversing the direction of the feed device to remove the yarn and give it further twist. Two or more yarns may then be folded together to form a cord and this is preferably carried out whilst passing the twisted yarns into a further rotating member, of which the following is a Specification.

Elnited States Patent 1 [111 3,834,150

Qttewell et a1. Sept. 10, 1974 [54] METHOD FOR FORMING TWISTED 2,881,586 4/1959 Svaty et al. 57/76 X 3,111,804 11/1963 Beyer 57 34 CP X FILAMENTARY MATERIAL 3,187,496 6/1965 Gonsalves 57/76 [75] Inventors: Roger James Ottewell, Birmingham;

Peter Lothar Ernst Moring,

Primary Examiner-Donald E. Watkins walmley both of England Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Stevens, Davis, Miller & [73] Assignee: Dunlop Limited, London, England M h [22] Filed: Jan. 30, 1973 [21] App]. No.: 327,936 [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus and method of forming a twisted yarn [301 Foreign Applicaflm Priority Data and a doubled cord in which yarn twisting is carried Feb. 1, 1972 Great Britain 4539/72 out by feeding a yarn by means of a feed device into a Sept. 16, 1972 Great Britain 43062/72 rotating hollow member, temporarily storing the yarn and subsequently reversing the direction of the feed [52] US. Cl. 57/156, 57/34 CF device to remove the yarn and give it further twist. [51] Int. Cl. DOlh 1/08, DOlh 9/06 Two or more yarns may then be folded together to [58] Field of Search 57/34 CF, 76, 77, 156 form a cord and this is preferably carried out whilst passing the twisted yarns into a further rotating mem- [56] References Cited ber, of which the following is a Specification.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,087,467 7 1937 Byron 57 34 CP 8 Clams 4 Draw'ng Flgures PAIENTEBsEM 01974 FIGI.

PAIENTEDSEPIOIHZ4 saw-150 SHEET 2 BF 2 METHOD FOR FORMING TWISTED FILAMENTARY MATERIAL This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for forming twisted filamentary materials and also cord from said twisted materials.

Conventional methods of twisting yarns involve using rotating travellers and fliers and in many of these processes the yarn establishes a balloon which requires power to maintain. Frictional problems restrict the speed of operation of these devices and furthermore the devices are unable to twist successfully impregnated yarns or wet yarns. The production of plied yarns or cords from the twisted yarns is carried out in a separate operation and the yarns are batched up between the twisting and doubling operation which involves the use of large numbers of storage members. I

According to one aspect of the present invention a method of forming a twisted yarn comprises drawing a yarn from a supply member by means of a feed device, feeding the yarn into an open end of a rotating member, temporarily storing the said yarn on an inside surface of the hollow member in a twisted condition and subsequently reversing the direction of the said feed device whilst an end of the yarn still is connected to it so that the yarn is removed from the hollow member and is given further twist.

The yarn is preferably passed into the hollow member by means of a traverse tube which is mounted so that the end of the tube from which the yarn issues is within the hollow member and is moved in the axial direction of the hollow tube to distribute the yarn on the inside surface of the hollow member.

The twisted yarn may be rewound onto the same supply member and in a preferred arrangement the supply member is a beam. In this case several yarns can be taken from the same beam, each being twisted in a separate rotating hollow member and fed back onto the same beam.

The invention also provides a method of forming a cord in which at least two yarns are twisted as described above and are brought together from the traverse tubes to cause folding into a cord. The cord is preferably made by feeding the yarns directly into a further hollow member by means of an additional feed device, which subsequently removes the cord so formed from the further hollow member and feeds it to a final storage member.

As the yarns and cords are not rotating either before entering or after leaving the feed device after twisting yarn treatment operations may be carried out such as for example annealing, drawing, dyeing etc. The invention thus provides a means of twisting yarns and forming doubled cords without intermediate packaging.

According to another aspect of the invention the invention provides an apparatus for carrying out the above method comprising a feed device for inserting and removing yarn, a rotatable-hollow member having an inner surface on which the yarn may be stored in a partially twisted condition and drive means for the rotatable member.

The yarn is preferably guided and supported into the rotating member by means of a traverse tube which is provided with drive means for moving it axially within the hollow member so that the yarn may be distribute on the inner surface of the said member. 7

The outlet end portions or the whole of the traverse tube may be made rotatable or alternatively or additionally at least the outlet end portions of it may be coated with low friction material such as for example polytetrafluorethylene.

Other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of some embodiments of the invention, by way of example only, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings (diagrammatic) in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the hollow member and its drive system;

FIG. 2 shows the operation of the device taking yarn from a single bobbin;

FIG. 3 shows three hollow members operating in parallel to twist three yarns from a beam;

FIG. 4 illustrates the use of a further device to form a doubled cord.

The rotating hollow member comprises a hollow steel cylinder 1 which has an axially extending spigot 2 which is attached to a spindle 3. The spindle comprises an axially extending shaft 4 which runs in two spaced apart bearings 5 and 6; the top bearing 5 being an angular contact roller bearing and the other bearing being a resiliently mounted sleeve bearing. The spindle 3 also includes a generally downwardly extending skirt which extends around the housing of the top bearing and includes a circumferentially extending groove 6 which is engaged by a drive belt 7. The two bearings are mounted in a housing 8 which is used for mounting the hollow member in a frame 9. A traverse tube 10 is mounted coaxially with the hollow cylinder 1 and above it so that the lower end 11 of the traverse tube extends through an opening 12 provided in a lid member 13 which is attached to the open end of the hollow cylinder 1. The traverse tube is mounted on a carriage (not shown) which can be driven so that the tube reciprocates on a path along the axis of the cylinder 1. The end of the traverse tube is thus caused to traverse the path A. The required movement can be obtained by any suitable means for example a reversibly driven lead screw or rack and pinion in which the reversing is caused at either end of the stroke by changeover means. A yarn feed device 14 comprising two rollers is provided to feed yarns into the traverse tube 10 (see FIG. 2).

The operation of this unit to form a twisted yarn is generally illustrated in FIG. 2 showing a bobbin of yarn 15.

The feed device 14 unwinds yarn from the bobbin l5 and feeds it into the traverse tube 10 which leads the yarn into the hollow cylinder 1 which is rotated at a constant speed of for example 7,500 rpm. The-yam issuing from the end of the traverse tube 10 moves out to the cylinder wall and is retained there by centrifugal force. The rotation of the cylinder twists the yarn at a rate of twist determined by the speed of revolution of the cylinder and the rate of feed of the yarn.

The yarn is thus automatically stored on the inner wall of the cylinder in the form of a winding of twisted yarn. Even loading of the cylinder is achieved by vertical reciprocating movement of the traverse tube through the stroke A. When the bobbin 15 is almost empty, the cylinder 1 is consequently loaded with stored twisted yarn, the feed device 14 is reversed and the bobbin is driven so that it winds yarn from the feed device. Simultaneously the traverse tube 10 is stopped at theuppermost part of its stroke. The hollow cylinder is maintained rotating and the situation is then that cord is withdrawn from the hollow cylinder and is given further twist, the further twist being proportional to the rate of rotation and the rate of feed of the yarn from the cylinder.

The yarn is therefore rewound onto the bobbin in'the twisted condition.

As shown in FIG. 3 the yarn for twisting is provided as a series of windings on a beam, which is a common way for yarn to be supplied by manufacturers, and in this case a series of rotating hollow cylinders l are provided one for twisting each of the windings of yarn. Twisting into the cylinders is carried out until two or three turns of yarn areleft on the beam and then the beam and the feed devices 14 are reversed as before.

, The main advantage of the above arrangement is that only one package member is required, whether it be a bobbin, beam, or other similar device and therefore the cost of providing large numbers of storage devices is avoided.

The above twisting process may be combined with other processes, with the advantage of avoiding intermediate packaging and one such system is illustrated in FIG. 4. Here two yarn plies on bobbins Y17 and 18 are used to feed separate storage cylinders 1 through their own feed devices 14 and traversing tubes 10. Each yarn is fed through a pre-treatment unit 19 before it comes to the feed devices 17 for twisting. When the rotating cylinders are loaded with partially twisted yarn the yarn supply is cut off, the feed devices 14 are reversed and the movement of the traverse tubes is stopped. .The yarns issuing in their fully twisted state are then fed over guide rollers 20 and 21 and to a second additional feed roller 22 which brings the yarns together. The feed devices 22 passes the two yarns into the second rotating cylinder 1A which is rotated in the opposite direction to the first two cylinders and the two twisted yarns are twisted to form a folded cord. When the additional cylinder is loaded the additional feed device is reversed and the cord is twisted on leaving the second hollow cylinder 1A and is fed onto a wind-up device 23. Whilst this final wind-up stage is in progress further yarns from the input bobbin 17 and 18 may be fed into the first two hollow cylinders. The final cord issuing from the feed device 22 is a twisted cord.

If required a further treatment stage 24 may be applied to the cord prior to batch up on the bobbin 23. The treatment stages 19 and 24 may comprise any of the usual treatments such as for example drawing, annealing, dyeing etc. The use of such processes is possible because the yarn before entering the feed device and the cord after leaving the feed device is not being twisted and thus may be fed between the various rollers required for pre-treatment.

The yarns as used in the present invention are understood to include continuous monofilament of multifilament yarn, yarns made from film by drawing extruded or cast film and mechanically fibrillating, profiling or slitting extruded or cast film and subsequently drawing, or spun staple fibre yarns. The materials from which the filaments or fibres are made can be either organic or inorganic in composition.

Examples of suitable materials from which the yarns may be made include cellulose, protein, polyamide,

'polyester,.polyvinyl derivatives, polyolefines and inorganic materials such as glass, carbon or steel.

The hollow member described above is a cylinder but other shapes may be used as long as it provides an inner surface on which the yarns and cords may be stored whilst rotating.

The invention has the advantage that wet cords can be satisfactorily twisted into the hollow member and also that it can be operated at high speed. Speeds up to for example 15,000 r.p.m. are possible without the usual problems of damage by devices using a balloon. The power requirement is minimised by enclosing the cylinder in a shroud comprising a closely fitting cover.

The device may be used to form cords with either balanced or unbalanced twist dependent on the amount of twist applied to each yarn in the first twisting stages. Furthermore the twist applied in the doubling stage also be varied to give any desired cord. More than two yarns may be twisted and then formed into a cable or cord including two or more yarns. The feed device may either be a pair of rollers, a set of godets or any other of the usual feed devices for yarns.

It will be appreciated that the yarns or cords only pass through non-rotating guides, rotating travellers and fliers and balloon restrictors being eliminated, and thus less filament damage occurs than in previous methods.

Furthermore the low tensions involved and the few friction points used in the process makes it suitable for the formation of cords of brittle materials such as glass.

The invention is illustrated by the following example:

A two-fold cord of 4 l 0 tpm folding twist and 410 tpm ply twist was produced from tex twistless nylon yarn on a machine similar to that described above.

Two yarns were each pulled off their supply package by two sets of feed device godets at a speed of 43.6 metres/min. and fed into two cylinders of internal diameter 178 mm and internal height 127 mm rotating at approximately 8,800 rpm in the clockwise direction, thereby inserting a first portion of ply twist.

After 6,000 metres of yarn has passed into the two cylinders the traverse tube was stopped in the uppermost position, the godets were de-clutched and the two yarns were cut below the godets. The cylinders were kept rotating and the free ends of the twisted yarns were threaded together around the godets of the third cylinder position at a speed of 39.5 metres/min. and then traversed into the corresponding cylinder which was rotating at 8,800 rpm in the anti-clockwise direction. During this stage the two twisted yams were first uptwisted from their respective cylinders to insert a second portion of ply twist and then downtwisted into the third cylinder to insert a first portion of folding twist. The cord this formed was then further twisted on removal from the third cylinder and the cord was collected on a portion of a beam. Parallel devices as above were used to fill adjacent places on the beam.

The cord thus made was manufactured without re-- quiring intermediate packaging and could if required be subjected to the various other treatments disclosed above.

Having now described our invention, what we claim 1. A method of forming a twisted yarn comprising drawing a yarn from a supply member by means of a feed device, feeding the yarn into an open end of a rotating hollow member, temporarily storing said yarn on an inside surface of the hollow member in a twisted condition and subsequently reversing the direction of the feed of said device whilst an end of the yarn is still connected to it so that the yarn is removed from the hollow member and is given further twist.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein the yarn is passed into the hollow member by means of a traverse tube mounted such that the end of the traverse tube from which the yarn issues is substantially at the axis of the hollow member and the end of the tube is moved in the axial direction of the hollow member so that the yarn is distributed on the inside wall of the hollow member.

3. A method as in claim 1 wherein the yarn is rewound on to the same supply member.

4. A method as in claim 3 wherein several yarns are taken from a beam and each yarn is twisted and returned to its position on the beam by reversing the beam direction after loading the hollow member.

5. A method of forming a cord comprising taking at least two yarns from supply members, and applying the method of claim 1 to each of the said yarns to impart twist into the yarns. bringing the yarns together to cause folding thereof into a cord, and winding the cord on to a storage member.

6. A method as in claim 5 wherein the twisted yarns are passed from the traverse tube to an additional feed device which feeds the yarns into the open end of an additional rotating hollow member, temporarily storing the folded cord so formed on an inside surface of the hollow member, subsequently reversing the direction of the additional feed device so that the cord is taken from the hollow member and is given twist, and winding the twisted cord on to the storage member.

7. A method as in claim 1 wherein the yarn is subjected to at least one treatment operation before entering the feed device.

8. A method as in claim 6 wherein the yarn is subjected to a treatment operation immediately prior to winding on to the storage member. 

1. A method of forming a twisted yarn comprising drawing a yarn from a supply member by means of a feed device, feeding the yarn into an open end of a rotating hollow member, temporarily storing said yarn on an inside surface of the hollow member in a twisted condition and subsequently reversing the direction of the feed of said device whilst an end of the yarn is still connected to it so that the yarn is removed from the hollow member and is given further twist.
 2. A method as in claim 1 wherein the yarn is passed into the hollow member by means of a traverse tube mounted such that the end of the traverse tube from which the yarn issues is substantially at the axis of the hollow member and the end of the tube is moved in the axial direction of the hollow member so that the yarn is distributed on the inside wall of the hollow member.
 3. A method as in claim 1 wherein the yarn is re-wound on to the same supply member.
 4. A method as in claim 3 wherein several yarns are taken from a beam and each yarn is twisted and returned to its position on the beam by reversing the beam direction after loading the hollow member.
 5. A method of forming a cord comprising taking at least two yarns from supply members, and applying the method of claim 1 to each of the said yarns to impart twist into the yarns, bringing the yarns together to cause folding thereof into a cord, and winding the cord on to a storage member.
 6. A method as in claim 5 wherein the twisted yarns are passed from the traverse tube to an additional feed device which feeds the yarns into the open end of an additional rotating hollow member, temporarily storing the folded cord so formed on an inside surface of the hollow member, subsequently reversing the direction of the additional feed device so that the cord is taken from the hollow member and is given twist, and winding the twisted cord on to the storage member.
 7. A method as in claim 1 wherein the yarn is subjected to at least one treatment operation before entering the feed device.
 8. A method as in claim 6 wherein the yarn is subjected to a treatment operation immediately prior to winding on to the storage member. 